Common wisdom, encouraged by pharmaceutical companies with a financial interest in the matter, invariably blames cholesterol and saturated fats for everything from heart disease to stroke. Distilling 50 years of research on the subject, and citing studies largely ignored by the mainstream, <i>Fats Are Good for You and Other Secrets</i> offers a provocative challenge to this idea. Author Jon Kabara begins by revealing the surprisingly varied roles played by fats and cholesterol in the body — as a source of all sex hormones, vitamin D, and bile acids, and a necessary factor in digestion and the formation of cell membranes. The author describes the powerful antimicrobial and antiviral effects of fats and their positive influence on oral health. He examines the relationship of dietary fat to the immune system and the role it plays in cancer, and continues with a detailed look at how plaque buildup in the arteries (atherosclerosis) begins and how inflammation and infection, rather than fat and cholesterol, cause its development. Kabara's sensible, science-based advocacy for understanding the health benefits of moderate cholesterol and “medium-chain” fats, and the true causes of diseases linked to them, makes this book both important and timely.